Category Archives: News Article

Insect pathogenic fungi can grow in liquid suspensions and on solid substrates, and their spores can attack and kill mosquitoes in aquatic or terrestrial environments. A new study demonstrates that the fungal attack of aquatic Aedes larvae is a particular rapid and effective way of mosquito control.

A group of scientists from Montana are studying a section of the Rim Fire burn scar near Crane Flat in Yosemite National Park, focusing on forest composition, tree mortality and fuel accumulation since the devastating 2013 megablaze burned more than 400 square miles in the Central Sierra.

Researchers have found a way to make jet fuel from a common black fungus found in decaying leaves, soil and rotting fruit. The researchers hope the process leads to economically viable production of aviation biofuels in the next five years.

The more than 90,000 known species of fungi may owe their abilities to spread and even cause disease to an ancient virus that hijacked their cell division machinery, researchers report. Over a billion years ago, a viral protein invaded the fungal genome, generating a family of proteins that now play key roles in fungal growth. The research could point to new antifungals that inhibit cell division in fungi but not in their plant or animal hosts.

Plants react intelligently to their environment: If they can choose between more cooperative and less cooperative fungal partners, they supply the latter with fewer nutrients and thus force them to cooperate more. Based on these findings, scientists believe that plants could also be used to test market and behavioral theories.

Forest trees use carbon not only for themselves; they also trade large quantities of it with their neighbors, botanists report. The extensive carbon trade among trees — even among different species — is conducted via symbiotic fungi in the soil.

Can portabella mushrooms stop cell phone batteries from degrading over time? Researchers think so. They have created a new type of lithium-ion battery anode using portabella mushrooms, which are inexpensive, environmentally friendly and easy to produce.

Scientists have gathered tiny fungi that take shelter in Antarctic rocks and sent them to the International Space Station. After 18 months on board in conditions similar to those on Mars, more than 60 percent of their cells remained intact, with stable DNA. The results provide new information for the search for life on the red planet. Lichens from the Sierra de Gredos (Spain) and the Alps (Austria) also traveled into space for the same experiment.